Re: [Orchard: Bea & Holly]
Holly had no idea how it worked. He knew there had never been a body, because Noah had told him that, and maybe that was why? Or maybe the military had been worried about repercussions. "I think maybe it wasn't exactly legitimate, or maybe it wasn't legal, whatever testing they were doing. So, declaring someone dead probably wasn't something they were going to do. I think the charts officially say MIA, or that's what they told me, that I went MIA, AWOL, whatever. Adrian, that scientist I mentioned, said he saw them take a body out in a bag, but that he didn't actually see it? He said he did see me- him- your Holly injured, though." It wasn't the most articulate response, but, look, he was already here, and he was already having this crazy conversation, and Holly knew that no one gave anything away for free. Even conversation, this conversation, was going to cost something, and his current currency was honesty. "It takes seven years for someone who goes missing in action to be declared dead. I think they were probably going that route. I'm sorry."
And, right, right, Noah. "I wasn't Noah's friend back home. I hated the guy. I don't think your husband was friends with him here. I mean, the porn thing was massively fucked and all shades of wrong, but there wasn't anything going on with Noah." Which seemed really important. Like, he got she felt betrayed. He absolutely got it.
But, wait, she'd said that thing about money, and that was a language Holly understood perfectly. Still, and here fear flashed in otherwise deadpan brown eyes, he didn't want to fuck with these people. She was mentioning Insta, and he grabbed her arms, like, her upper arms. It was a fast move, and it was maybe a bad one, but it was impulse. "Look, they held me for three days, and I don't remember most of it. I don't want them in my life, not even for all the money in the world." He let go. For Holly, that was a huge statement.